The Magicians Guild
by spellbindersasuke
Summary: Sekka has been accepted into the Guild, but as war begins to brew in Sachakan, along with Vanir trying to stop him at every turn, can he survive long enough to pass his exams?
1. The Springs of Fortuna

**Chapter One- The Springs of Fortuna**

If you translate Fortuna you get Fate, and it was fate that took Sekka to the springs that day…or was it destiny?

Magicians had always been despised by the lower classes of Imardin, the Higher Classes always hoped that their sons or daughters would show some magical talent and would be accepted into the Magicians Guild, they would boast of it to the other houses and it would increase their favour with the king.

Sekka cursed under his breath as his shirt snagged on a branch and ripped, he was climbing up through the forest to the fresh water springs. Most people brought their water at the market but as Sekka was young and full of energy he would climb up to the springs and fill the two water caskets they had. He lived in the West Quarter with his mother and father, his brother had died when Sekka was nine. He was now thirteen but he still felt sad whenever he thought of his brother. The empty caskets bumped against his back as he scrambled up the slope, he neared the spring when he heard two people talking, creeping to the bushes he peered to the spring. His heart caught in his throat. Two magicians in purple robes were stood by the spring, filling ten caskets with water using magic, he watched them, hardly daring to breath. "Do you think that we'll get any good novices with the winter intake?" One asked, the other shrugged, concentrating on filling the caskets.

"I hope so." He said, after sealing the caskets. "I want to take on the apprenticeship of one, hopefully someone powerful." Sekka felt a knot tighten in his stomach as they finished filling the caskets and lifted them into the air with magic, they were still talking as they walked off down the hill, passing within a foot of where Sekka was hiding. He stayed where he was for a few minutes after they had gone, not believing his luck, he'd been so close to them. Sekka didn't exactly like Magicians, but he had great respect for them, he wanted to be able to talk to one of them, but he wasn't part of the houses, so they would never listen and he would never have the courage to talk to them. He walked up to the water and took the stopper from the first casket, he was about to fill it when he saw something from the corner of his eye, they had forgotten a casket. He glanced back down the hill, would they notice? He saw the two magicians leaving the forest and he grabbed the casket and took off down the hill, he skidded slightly and grabbed a tree to slow himself down slightly. As he came to the edge of the forest he saw that another magician had joined them, he was in a red robe, Sekka sprinted towards them.

"Hai!" He called to get their attention, only one of them turned, the second one that had spoken, the magicians hair was a light brown and he had soft blue eyes, he tapped his companions and they turned and regarded the boy running towards them in confusion. When Sekka reached them he was out of breath. He bowed to them quickly, remembering his manners. "My lords, you forgot this." He said, holding out the heavy casket. The brown haired man did a quick count of the caskets that they had floating in the air, nine.

"So we did." He said, accepting the casket. "Our thanks." Sekka bowed again.

"You're welcome." He was breathing heavily, the red robed man was looking up at the hill.

"Have you run all the way down that?" He asked once Sekka had got his breath back.

"Yes, my lord." The red robed man smiled slightly, he turned to his companions and his smile widened, they seemed to be talking silently and Sekka remembered what he had learnt a while back, about how Magicians could communicate with their minds. That must have been what they were doing now, they all began to smile and the brown haired man glanced at Sekka, he felt uncomfortable under his gaze but kept still and didn't let the Magician get to him. After a while the red robed man spoke.

"What's your name?"

"Sekka, my lord."

"Would you mind accompanying us, Sekka?" He stared at the red robed man, his eyes reflecting the shock he felt.

"Well, um…" He started but the brown haired man put a hand on his shoulder and guided him along.

"Don't worry, it won't take long." They all set off through the streets, people stopped to bow to the Magicians while Sekka studied their faces, he didn't know why two were in purple and one was in red but he didn't really care, he was just worried what they wanted with him. He didn't notice that his mother was at the market, buying bread and milk, she looked up as the Magicians approached the gates to the Inner Gates, she bowed then caught sight of Sekka, walking between them, had he got into trouble with them? She stared as her son put his hands in his pocket and glanced up at the Magician with his hand on his shoulder. She quickly slipped out the market and hurried home to tell her husband.

They had reached the gates of the Guild and the knot in Sekka's stomach had tightened so much that he felt like he would suffocate, he bit his lip as they walked into the grounds and the gates swung closed behind him. There were novices in brown robes walking about with books or sat in the shade of trees studying, he glanced at them and looked away as one looked up and met his eyes, he felt himself flushing as the novice stood up and walked over. Sekka stared at the ground, biting his lip so hard that a bead of blood appeared there. He saw the novice bow to the red robed man in the corner of his eye.

"Lord Rufan," The boy started. "I have a few queries about the homework, may I speak with you later about it?"

"Of course Lucas." The boy bowed again and walked back to his friends. Sekka let out the breath he had been holding in, he glanced at the red robed man, Lord Rufan. He wondered vaguely what the other two were called but as they entered the hall he forgot all about it. It was the most grand place he'd ever seen, the ceiling stretched on, never ending, he stared, open mouthed at it. The floor was made of black marble, two staircases ran along the curved wall and there was a corridor running underneath them, the Magicians led him up the stairs, he received many confused glances from the Novices and Magicians he passed but merely stared at the floor, avoiding their eyes. They continued up another set of stairs and walked along many corridors before they reached a door with the words _High Administrator, Lord Lorlen _he wondered what they were doing here and why he had come with them but before he had a chance to contemplate this the door swung inwards and revealed a man sat at a desk, he was wearing sky blue robes and was writing on a long scroll of parchment.

"Ah, Lord Rufan, Lord Samsa, Lord Thorn." The man said, rolling the scroll and standing up. The three men bowed and Sekka followed suit, it was only then that Lord Lorlen noticed him, he raised his eyebrows to them and gestured to the seats. They all sat down, Sekka had wanted to stay standing but Lord Rufan had pushed him into one. "May I ask why you have a non- magician with you?" Lorlen asked and Sekka forced himself to pay attention while staring at the floor. Rufan began to explain how they had met him and what he had discovered.

"I knew immediately that there was something different about him, while he was distracted with talking to us, I searched his mind and found something that shocked me more than anything that has ever happened at the Guild."

"What was that?" Lorlen asked, he seemed to be showing some interest now.

"That he has a pool of power within him," Sekka felt something shout inside him and he wondered if they meant what he thought they did. "I wondered why it hadn't shown itself and it seems that, as Lord Coen said, power only shows itself if it has nothing else to do with itself,"

"What would magic be able to do in a teenage boy?" Lorlen asked and Sekka almost collapsed, magic? He had magic inside him?

"It can help him heal quicker than most and judging by the speed that he ran down the hill, improve balance and speed."

"So, he has been using up some of his power in everyday things without realizing it?" Lorlen said, not wanting an answer, he considered Sekka for a few moments then addressed him. "Sekka?" He looked up, "Would you like to join the magicians guild?" He asked, Sekka gaped, the Magician on his right, Lord Thorn, burst out laughing at his expression.

"High Lord," He managed to splutter out, "With the utmost respect that was very tactless."

"Really?"

"Yes, you can't just ask him and expect him to have an answer, he'll probably want to consult his parents and ask what they think. Remember, he's not one of the Houses." Lorlen rolled his eyes.

"You have to make things complicated don't you Lord Thorn?"

"Yes."

"Very well, can you accompany Sekka to his parents, then, if he chooses to join, bring him back here and if he doesn't, bring me his answer." They all stood up and bowed. Sekka was lost in thought, what would his parents say? Would they be angry? Or would they be pleased about it? He barely noticed as Lord Thorn walked along side him back down into the West Quarter, he came to reality for long enough to find his house, it was a two story wooden house and compared to the others it was quite grand. Thorn waited outside and Sekka took a deep breath and entered, his parents were in the living room and his mother hugged him as he walked in, Sekka collapsed into a chair, putting his head in his hands, his father ran to get a cup of raka, he handed it to Sekka who stared into the cup at the liquid, his eyes glazed over, deep in thought.

"What happened Sekka? I saw you walking up towards the Guild with three magicians, did you get into trouble?" His mother asked, kneeling in front of him. He shook his head.

"Did they hurt you?" His father asked, he shook his head again.

"Did they mess with your mind?"

"In a manner of speaking." Sekka muttered.

"What happened?" His father shook his shoulders slightly and Sekka looked up, he told them how he had seen the two on the hill then realized that they'd forgot a casket, how he'd run down after them, how he'd found out later that lord Rufan had entered his mind. When he said how he had magic inside him, they froze.

"They offered me a chance to join the Guild." He finished, closing his eyes, they stared.

"What did you say?" His mother asked.

"He must have said no." His father said, looking at Sekka from the corner of his eye. "You did say no didn't you?"

"Lord Thorn said that I should consult you two about it first."

"Then go and tell this Lord Thorn that you're not joining!" His father shouted. "I wont have a magician in the family!" He picked up a glass and threw it at the wall, the front door burst open and lord Thorn ran inside, his eyes swept over the scene, from the smashed glass to Sekka sat in the chair, his eyes closed and his father with hands on hips stood above him. "What do you want!" He yelled at Lord Thorn, the magician ignored him and walked over to Sekka, he crouched beside the chair.

"Are you alright?" Sekka nodded and Thorn patted his shoulder. He stood up and answered the fuming man before him. "I heard raised voices and a glass smash so I came to see what was going on." He said simply.

"You may be a Magician but you have no right to walk into my house without permission!" He was about to carry on ranting when Sekka spoke.

"I'm coming with you." He pulled himself out the chair, rubbing his head. Lord Thorn smiled slightly, his father yelled and grabbed Sekka by his throat, before Thorn could do anything Sekka kicked out and there was a flash of fire, his father dropped him falling back, his shoulder on fire, he dashed to the sink and quickly poured water over the fire, it went out with a hiss. Sekka was lying on the floor where his father had dropped him, his eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, from under his eyelids, tears flowed. Lord Thorn knelt down and pulled him up, Sekka shrugged his arm away and curled into a ball, sobbing. He hadn't asked for this to happen, if he'd never ran after them then he wouldn't be here, he'd be at the springs, admiring the view and wondering who the two magicians were. Not here, why did it have to happen to him anyway? He'd lashed out at his own father, he'd hurt his own father.

"Sekka, come on." He heard Lord Thorn mutter and felt the Magician pulling him to his feet, Sekka wiped the tears away and tried to pull himself together. There was a carriage waiting outside and they climbed into it, Sekka was deep in thought for the rest of the journey and barely noticed as they walked back towards the High Administrators Office, he paid little attention to Lord Lorlen, only just enough to answer any questions about his health and the incident at his house. After the interview, Lord Thorn led him to the guest rooms telling him that he'd be moved into the Novice Quarters tomorrow. He fell onto the soft bed, closing his eyes and drifting into sleep, his dreams were filled with his father yelling and fire, over and over again someone called his name but he always ran from them.

Morning sunlight streamed through the window and when he opened his eyes he was surprised to see a servant had laid breakfast on his bedside table, they had also put the cover fully over him and he yawned as he sat up, trying to forget about the previous day, but the memories came back anyway, as he ate breakfast he wondered if he'd made the right decision. He had done what he wanted to, his dream had been to become a Magician but, he'd never have thought that it would come true. There were clothes on the end of the bed and Sekka got changed into them, he stared out the window, Novices were sat on the grass in the morning sun, studying, he watched them for a while before wondering if he could leave the room, surely he would be allowed to leave to look around the Guild, he smiled to himself and tried the door, it swung open at his touch and he left the room. He spotted one of the female Magicians, she was carrying a pile of books and even more were floating in front of her, students bowed and hurried out her way, as she reached the corner, she mistimed it and a pile of the floating books knocked into the wall, her will over them broke and they tumbled to the floor, before they hit the marble they stopped and Sekka realized that his mind was focused on them, his tried to make them move up and they did, grinning he made them float back into a neat pile, he walked over and made the books drop into his arms, the Magician looked at him in surprise, he bowed and smiled. She smiled back and watched him slightly. "You must be Sekka." She said, he nodded. "Lord Lorlen told me about you, I didn't expect you to have such control over your powers so quickly."

"Me neither, I keep using magic without realizing it." He shrugged, "But, it means I'm learning to control it."

"Yes." She glanced at the books at his arms. "Thank you for catching those,"

"It's okay, where do you need them?" She smiled and carried on down the corridor.

"This way." He followed her and soon found himself at a classroom, the name on the door read, _Lady Tarnsburn, Alchemy. _He looked at her, Lady Tarnsburn. She took the books out his hands and put them into the bookcase that ran along the far wall, the room was packed with desks, there was a candle on each desk, a few Novices were sat at the tables, they all had their eyes closed and were making the candle light and go out, he watched with awe, Tarnsburn noticed and gestured to an empty table. "Would you like a go?" He smiled and walked to the table, as he sat down the person across from his opened his eyes, it was the boy he'd seen yesterday, Lucas. Sekka averted his eyes and closed them, he pulled the image of the candle into his head and forced his will onto the wick, he thought of fire and tried to bend his will to it, but it didn't work, he felt someone next to him and there was a whisper.

"Focus on something that you associate with fire." He recognised the voice of Lucas and did as he said, anger was what he associated with fire, he focused on the day that a kid from one of the Houses had knocked his lunch from his hand, the candle flared into life. He opened his eyes, the candle was burning brightly, he smiled to himself, he saw that Lucas was grinning. "Hi." Lucas said, looking at him.

"Hi, I'm Sekka."

"I'm Lucas." They shook hands, Sekka noticed that the rest of the Novice's were watching him in surprise, he flushed slightly.

"Nice job," He glanced at the door, a girl was leant on the frame, she was wearing a short black dress with red roses on, her novices robe was open showing the dress, her black hair hung about her shoulders, she smiled at him, walking over.

"This is Suki." Lucas said, she smiled, sitting on the desk opposite his.

"I'm guessing that you're the Winter Novice that everyone's talking about." He stared.

"Who's talking about me?"

"Everyone." She said, starting to grin, "You've created quite a stir in the Guild, you're the first in fifty years to be brought into the Guild and not be one of the Houses."

"So I'm guessing that the Houses aren't happy." Lucas said, he was half grinning.

"Yeah, I just overheard Lord Thorn and Lord Thanil talking, well, arguing, Thanil's furious that he wasn't consulted first." Suki was laughing now.

"Just because Thanil's powerful in the houses, why does he think that he can control the Guild?" Lucas sighed, leaning back in his chair, Sekka frowned slightly, had he made the wrong decision? Suki smiled at him.

"Don't worry about the Houses, they'll get over it, or the High Lord might have something to say about it." He clicked her fingers, "I almost forgot, Lord Thorn asked me to tell you that your initiation test is in two days, he'll teach you what you need to pass."

"Oh, do you know where he is?"

"Back at your room I think." He stood up.

"Thanks." He left the room, bowing to Lady Tarnsburn, he hurried down the corridor, he'd better get started straight away, he didn't want to have to go back. He surprised himself by remembering the way back to his room, when he reached the door, it swung open at his touch, as soon as he walked in he spotted Lord Thorn sat in a chair by the window, he bowed quickly. "My Lord," He murmured.

"Ah Sekka, I'm guessing that you met Suki."

"Yes my Lord."

"Good." He stood up, facing Sekka. "Shall we begin your training?"

"Yes my Lord." Lord Thorn walked across the room and blew out a candle, he put it on the desk and motioned for Sekka to sit down, he did so and smiled inwardly as he realized what Thorn wanted him to do.

"Try to light this candle." Sekka stared at the wick, gathering his will he brought the anger into the candle, a small flame seemed to grow from the wick, soon it was a tall flickering flame. He looked at Lord Thorn who was staring at him in surprise. "Try to put it out." Sekka turned back to the candle, he closed his eyes and with his will snatched out at the flame, the real flame wavered and grew smaller, he tried again and this time the real flame vanished too. When he opened his eyes he saw that Lord Thorn was staring at him in shock. "Try to relight it." Sekka did just that. "Put it out." He pinched the flame out. "Try to relight it by warming the air around it." Sekka stared for a moment, he imagined a bubble around the wick and filled the bubble with gentle heat, he felt himself growing slightly tired but when he was about to give up the wick burst into flames. He let the bubble fade, sitting back and closing his eyes. "I thought as much." He opened an eye as Thorn spoke. "You find it easier to use your will and emotions to control something, which is very good if you can control it, you'll probably be best working with Alchemy or Healing." He considered Sekka thoughtfully. "Can you read and write?" Sekka sat up in shock.

"Of course I can!" He snapped, folding his arms. Thorn shrugged.

"Just checking." There was a knock at the door and Thorn answered it, there was a man stood in the doorway, he was quite old and had grey hair with his glasses on his nose. They spoke in hushed voices and Sekka closed his eyes while they spoke, he searched for his power but instead he found himself observing the power in the around and in his room. Thorn had quite a large amount and so did the man stood outside the room, he found his own and was amazed, he had nearly triple what Thorn had, it was a globe of swirling silver, he stared at it. Then noticed something else, there was a small ball of power heading straight for the window, he sped towards it and saw that it was a stone, he guessed that it had been coated in magic, he wondered what to do, if it hit the window then the glass would break, he reached towards the stone and sent his own power towards it. As the two powers collided something hit Sekka, another mind was attacking his, he tried to prevent it but the mind was more powerful and Sekka couldn't tell where the attack was coming from, he opened his eyes and saw someone stood with a hand raised towards him, they were hidden in the shadow of the trees but Sekka knew that it was them, he sent a blast of power towards them, the glass smashed as his power passed through it and the attack ceased to block his attack, Sekka collapsed to the floor and Thorn ran over, he checked the window, Thanil was stood by the tree, he was smirking. Sekka had passed out and Thorn could sense a shield around him.

When Sekka woke again he was in a white room, people in green robes hurried here and there and he saw that there was a pile of sweets on his bedside table, there were just as many cards and he was about to look at them when he saw Lord Thorn walk into the room. He smiled when he saw Sekka awake and sat up in bed, as Thorn drew near Sekka spoke. "What happened?"

"Someone attacked your mind."

"Who though?"

"I'm not sure, I have a few ideas but I can't prove anything." Thorn sighed, Sekka's gaze wandered to the pile. "Get well gifts from your friends." Sekka's brow furrowed.

"Friends? When did I make them?" Thorn couldn't help but laugh.

"Lucas and Suki were here as soon as they heard, you've made quite an impression on them I've heard. The others are from other people in their classes and the people in the Lady Tarnsburns class." Sekka was still confused, he opened the first card.

_Dear Sekka,_

_Get well soon, see you then,_

_Lucas._

He smiled slightly, the next was more or less the same but from Suki, he opened the next, closely watched by Thorn.

_Sekka,_

_You better get well soon, or the things that I taught you will be for nothing! Just kidding,_

_Lord Thorn. _

Sekka laughed when he read it. He turned to face Thorn who shrugged, "It would be." Sekka couldn't help but throw a pillow at him, Thorn laughed, throwing it back. Sekka moved back to the cards.

_Hi Sekka, _

_Get well soon, hope to meet you then even though I've heard almost everything about you,_

_Maria._

He progressed through the cards, each carrying the same message in varied words, he'd never even met them and they were sending sweets and cards. He inwardly shrugged, it was odd. A gong rang in the Guild and as he glanced out the window he saw Novices leaving the University. "I've heard that you can leave the hospital wing if you're feeling better." He smiled and pulled himself up and out the bed, he stretched and felt his power flooding his mind, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the sweets, he picked up the top bag, they were sherbet lemons, he took one out and offered another to Lord Thorn, he took one and popped it into his mouth, Sekka focused his will, the sweets and cards lifted into the air, sorting themselves into neater piles, Thorn was half smiling, he wondered how Sekka could have so much control over his magic when he'd only just started using it. Lord Thorn led him out the hospital and across the lawn, back towards the university building where his room was, when they walked in, Sekka noticed that the window was repaired. He made the sweets and cards land on a desk and he sat down in a chair. Lord Thorn watched him closely. "Before I forget, the tests are tomorrow," Sekka sat bolt upright in alarm, "But you're more than ready, so all you need to do is get some rest." He sat back with relief. "I'll move you into the Novice Quarters when you pass." Lord Thorn left and Sekka fell asleep.

He was woken up a few minutes later by a loud knock at the door, he sat up and willed the door to open, it did and Lucas and Suki walked in, they were both beaming. "Hiya!" Suki said, sitting down opposite him, she was in a different outfit, a black skirt with red cobwebs on and a top with spiders on.

"Hi." He replied, sitting right up, grinning himself.

"We went to the hospital but they said you'd left." Lucas said, he was looking at the pile of sweets and there was a look of confusion on his face. "Besides us, who're they from?" He asked, pointing.

"Er…everyone in your year I think." Sekka said, offering them some sweets, they accepted them happily.

"Bloody hell, we told them about you but we didn't think that they'd send so much stuff." Suki said, reading a few of the cards.

"I didn't expect anything." Sekka confessed. Lucas shrugged.

"Believe me, us second years are much nicer than the new first years are gonna be."

"Hey! I'm a first year!" Sekka said, laughing.

"Except you then."

"Yay!" They all laughed.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, when're your tests?"

"Tomorrow."

"Bloody hell! Shouldn't you be practicing?!" Suki cried, jumping to her feet,

"Lord Thorn said that I only really need to get some rest." Sekka said, shrugging. Suki sat back down, Lucas was smirking at her.

"You know Suki, it looked like someone had sent a firework up your but!" He said laughing, they all joined in, Suki was pouting slightly. There was another knock at the door, Sekka focused his will, it opened. The two second years stared in surprise as it sprang open, a woman in green robes entered, they all jumped to their feet and bowed.

"Lady Tya." Lucas and Suki murmured and Sekka copied. There was a few books floating in front of her, she handed them to Sekka.

"Lord Thorn asked me to drop these off, he says that you should have a read of them." He bowed to her and took the books, she smiled and left.

"_A History of Magic."_ He read the title aloud, Lucas patted him on the shoulder.

"Feel sorry for you, I had to read that, it's quite boring."

"I think it's interesting." Suki said.

"Not when, like me, you've got two brothers and a sister who are all magicians and are reading it aloud every month so that they don't forget." Lucas said, looking at the other book titles. "_Altdorf._" He said, reading the title of the thickest book. "I've never read that one."

"It's about the Colleges of Magic." Suki said.

"Ah." He looked at third one, "_Darkovia._ Isn't that the one about Vampires?" He asked Suki. She looked up from decided which of the sweets that Sekka was offering her to have.

"Ooh! Gimme!" She said, he threw it to her, Sekka had sat back down, Suki looked at the book, she read the first page. "I'm gonna friggin' kill Lady Tya!"

"Why?" Sekka asked, he was reading the back of _Altdorf. _

"I asked earlier if she had Darkovia in and she said no, well it seems she did!" She sat down, pulling out a scroll of blank parchment and a quill from the desk in the corner, she began to take notes on the book. Sekka watched her, his eyebrows raised.

"You can borrow it you know."

"You need to read it."

"I read it two years ago."

"Seriously? How?"

"The library in the Inner Circle, it was in there, I was very bored so I read that."

"Oh, I'll bring it back tomorrow then." She said, he grinned.

"Have you got any chocolate?" Lucas asked, looking at the pile of sweets, Sekka focused again and a box of milk chocolate slid out from the bottom of the pile, it landed in his hands and he passed it to Lucas who took a while to decide which one to have. There was another gong and Suki jumped in surprise. "Lunch!" Lucas exclaimed in delight. "Coming to the Food hall?" He asked Sekka.

"Where is it?"

"We'll show you, if Suki will grace us with her presence."

"I've gotta take this back to the Quarters, I'll see you in the next revision lesson." She said.

"No you wont."

"Why not?"

"Yesterday, you arrived almost at the end of the lesson, I was there by myself for ages!"

"I fell asleep!" She argued.

"Well, I don't wanna be the one who looks like an idiot because I'm there by myself."

"Please…" She made puppy dog eyes.

"No. I'm studying outside, I'll be able to see the new Novices' arrive that way."

"Pretty please…"

"No." She pouted.

"Sekka, will you come?"

"Don't drag him into this!"

"Come where? Term hasn't started yet has it?"

"No, it's revision classes, most the people we hang round with are at the Houses, I don't go back to the houses because everyone asks me to sort out their stupid little problems and Lucas doesn't go because all his brothers and sisters go back for Winter."

"Oh…that helps."

"It's revision, but because we don't really know any of the others in the classes, we drag each other along, Lucas is being a pain and refusing to come, so will you come?"

"What's the revision for?"

"Today, Alchemy."

"Like yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, I should be able to come."

"Yay! Thank you!" She cried, hugging him. "I'll meet you in the food hall." She waved, leaving the room. Lucas was muttering under his breath about how she always got her way, Sekka laughed. They left the room, Sekka taking a bag of sweets with him.

"Hold on," He said, looking at the bag.

"Yeah?"

"If all your friends are back at the Houses, how did they send the sweets?"

"They're the Houses, Suki normally goes to see them everyday of the holidays, she told them the night before last and they sent the sweets and cards this morning."

"Ah." They reached a pair of double doors, there were banquet tables running the length of the room, they were only half full and there was the murmur of low chatter. Lucas sat down and Sekka sat opposite him, they both began to eat, Sekka asking about the revision classes and Lucas mumbling about how Suki kept annoying him. Sekka jumped slightly as someone sat down next to him, it was Suki, she spooned some soup into her bowl while reading Darkovia, she appeared absorbed by her reading but looked up as a group of people entered the hall, she marked her page and put the book on the table.

"Novices'." She said, looking at Lucas.

"They're early." He replied, watching them, there was someone near the back of the group that seemed a bit alone, he had red hair and icy blue eyes, he looked round the hall. "Be right back." Lucas got up and walked over to the Novices', Suki rolled her eyes. Lucas smiled as he reached them, fearful eyes turned to him, "Hi, I'm Lucas." He said to them, they smiled slightly and he grinned. "Do any of you know where you're going?" Most of them shook their heads, one in the middle of the group scoffed.

"Of course I know where I'm going." He snapped, Lucas recognised him as Vanir, Lord Thanils son.

"Well, for those of you that don't would you like me to show you around?" He asked, Suki heard and groaned.

"I'm gonna kill him, he did this with the Summer Novices', we'll be stuck doing this all damn day now." Suki said, shaking her head, Sekka laughed slightly. Lucas was walking back over, leading a group of Novices', they all looked a bit scared.

"And this is my fellow second year- Suki, and my new friend who is in your year, Sekka." They both waved and smiled, Suki's was forced but Sekka was looking forward to knowing someone in his year. "So, who're you then?" He asked them, sitting down and motioning for them to do the same, Sekka found himself next to the boy that was at the back.

"Hey, who're you?" Sekka asked him, smiling.

"Gaara." He seemed shy and unwilling to talk much.

"Nice to meet you, Gaara."

"D'you know much magic?" Vanir had walked over, addressing Sekka. "My father heard that you're _"The best Novice this year." _Vanir scoffed. Sekka smiled slyly, he focused his mind on the chair at the table behind Vanir, his mind dragged the chair forward, making Vanir fall onto it. He smirked at the new boys obvious surprise.

"Sekka!" Suki called him. "Are you coming to revision?" He glanced at Lucas and found him deep in conversation with one of the Novices'. He smiled and nodded to Suki, Vanir glared at his back.

"Can I come?" He turned to Gaara as the boy spoke.

"Sure, if you want to." Gaara smiled gratefully and followed Suki and Sekka out the hall. Suki led them down the corridor and up some stairs until they came to a different room to the one he'd been in yesterday. As they walked in, all three of them bowed to the teacher.

"My lord." They murmured and took seats next to each other, Sekka being in the middle. There were small balls of water on the desk, the teacher- Lord Lareg- addressed the class.

"Your task for today is to heat the water in this ball, if you heat it too much it will turn purple, if not enough it will turn yellow but if you heat it just right then it will turn red. Continue." The classroom was almost filled and everyone was silent. Suki had closed her eyes, concentrating, Gaara was staring at the ball and it was slowly turning orange an slipping between red and yellow. Sekka turned to his own, he closed his eyes and reached towards the ball with his mind, he created a ball of heat and placed it over the water ball, opening his eyes he found that it had turned red. Smiling he let the magic fade after the teacher had seen it. "Very good." Lord Lareg said to all three of them, a gong rang, Sekka hadn't realized that an hour had passed. He grinned at Suki and Gaara, they grinned back.

"Shall we go and rescue Lucas from the Novices'?" Suki asked as they left the room, bowing to Lord Lareg.

"Or we could go and eat sweets." Sekka suggested, Suki shrugged.

"I prefer your idea, coming Gaara?" They all walked down the corridor, they passed an arch that had the words Novice Library on and many classrooms, all dedicated to Alchemy. "This floor is Alchemy, the floor below us is the Administrator Offices, Food Hall and Magicians Library. The floor above us is for the Healing Classes and the Hospital, the floor above that is for Warrior Classes and they've also got the Arena in the grounds for Practical Warrior Lessons." Suki explained as they reached Sekka's room. Lucas was inside, he was reading _Altdorf. _Suki cleared her throat as she walked in.

"I take it you've demolished the sweets." Sekka said, half smiling,

"No, only a box of chocolates." He replied, laughing. They all sat down, Gaara looked around the room.

"No fair, your's is bigger." Gaara said, folding his arms.

"Really?" Sekka asked.

"Yeah, mine's about half the size." Sekka laughed.

"Ha-ha! Poor you!"

They carried on talking until the sun had vanished and the other three headed back, Lucas and Suki back to the Novice Quarters and Gaara back to his room. As Sekka fell asleep he remembered the test that he had the next day and his dreams were plagued by the thought of failing.

-Note- I don't own Naruto, The Black Magician Trilogy, Final Fantasy (Coming in chapter 5), I only own the charters I've made up, Lucas, Suki, Maria, Thorn e.t.c -Note-


	2. The Test

**Chapter Two- The Test**

"Young master." He woke to find a servant shaking him, rubbing his eyes, he sat up, yawning. "Lord Thorn is here to talk to you about the test."

"Thanks." She left the room and Sekka got dressed, he walked into the main room to find Lord Thorn sat in a chair, reading a small notebook, he looked up as Sekka walked in, the boy bowed and murmured.

"Lord Thorn."

"Ah, Sekka, your test is in an hour, I suggest you don't use your power too much."

"Okay. Where's the test?"

"Novices' Library." He replied and Sekka nodded. "They'll be plenty of other Novices' there to show you where to go."

"Do you know how many will be in the classes?"

"No, I think it'll be about ten though."

"How many Novices' have applied?"

"About ninety, but most don't have any proper magical talent and are turned back."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, just don't think of it as a test, think of it as showing off to your friends."

"Hey! I don't show off!"

"What was it yesterday then when you moved the chair to knock Vanir over?"

"That was different." Sekka said, pouting slightly.

They continued to argue for a while until Lord Thorn glanced at the clock. "You'd better get going." Sekka stood up and left, his stomach tying in a tight knot. As he reached the library he found it almost full of Magicians and Novices', Lucas and Suki walked over.

"Hi." They both said, he nodded in reply, feeling slightly sick. "Don't be nervous." Lucas said. "I was and it was easy."

"Believe me, you'll pass with flying colours." Suki said, he smiled gratefully at them then bit his lip as a Magician called out his name, he walked towards the door, he found himself in a large room, there was a row of magicians watching him, he bowed to them, they noted something down and he tried to avoid their eyes. The one in the middle addressed him.

"Will you please light the candle." There was an unlit candle on the desk in front of him, he focused and it lit. They made approving noises and wrote something down. "Please put the candle out." He focused, it wavered and went out. "Will you now please move the ball into the box and close the lid without touching it." This was harder but he managed to complete the task.

"Now remove it from the box and keep it level at eye height while lighting the candle." One of the Lords near the end of the table said, the others turned to regard him in surprise.

"Lord Madoc, that-" But they didn't get any further as Lord Madoc had smiled, they turned to look at Sekka who had done as he had instructed. They all looked at each other in surprise.

"Fill the glass with water." Lord Madoc said.

"Lord Madoc, that is pushing it too far, a mere Novice could not accomplish that." The only woman at the table exclaimed rising slightly out her seat.

"I want to see if he can do it." Madoc replied. Sekka heated the air above the glass then cooled the edges of the glass slightly, he put the heat into the glass and droplets of water formed, he pushed it further and the heat burst into water, filling the glass. Everyone at the table stared, Sekka rubbed his head. "Interesting." Madoc said, "Lord Thorn told me that he was talented but to be able to perform such a task so soon." Everyone agreed with him.

"I believe we should cast our vote."

"I accept him into the Guild." The Lord at the far end said.

"Seconded."

"I agree." The woman said.

"It would be foolish not to accept him."

"I agree as well." Madoc said, "Welcome to the Magicians Guild." They all smiled, Sekka gaped, he'd done it! Grinning he bowed and left the room, Lucas and Suki were waiting for him, he was still rubbing his head, he felt a migraine coming on.

"Well?" Lucas asked.

"Huh? Oh I passed." He said, they both jumped and hugged him. "Ow, do you mind, I've got a migraine!" He said, they laughed.

"How did you get a migraine?"

"They asked me to fill an empty glass with water. I didn't even know how to do that." They gaped.

"Bloody hell, did you manage it."

"Duh, why do you think I've got a migraine?" They all laughed and left the library.

"I forgot to say, Gaara had his test earlier, he passed too."

"Good." They had arrived back at Sekka's room, Lord Thorn was waiting for them.

"Well?" He asked as soon as they walked into the room.

"They asked him to fill an empty glass with water and he managed to do it!" Suki exclaimed as Sekka sank into a chair, opening a box of chocolates. Thorn didn't seem surprised.

"Lord Madoc by any chance?"

"Yes."

They talked about the test for a while until Thorn suggested that they get something to eat. Suki announced that she was going somewhere and she'd meet them after, Lucas muttered about it for a while and they met up with Gaara on the way to the food hall.

As they arrived back at the room Suki met them, in the room was a set of Novice robes and a piece of paper, Sekka picked the paper up and began to read it.

_**Lord Madoc**_

_**Novice**__**- **__Sekka_

_**Views- **_

_-When he entered he showed respect by bowing,_

_-He lit the candle by using his will and mind power, unlike other Novices' he showed control over his power._

_-When moving the ball he showed control and power, he also showed that he could control two things at once when I asked him to keep the ball at eye height and light the candle simultaneously,_

_-I then tested him by asking him to fill an empty glass with water, he did so in an unusual but effective way,_

_-Overall he has the makings of a brilliant magician._

Sekka smiled as he read it. The others all read it too while Sekka was getting chanced into his robes, Gaara returned to his own room to study and change into his robes.

Sekka fell asleep while they were talking and they left after Suki had covered him with a blanket, when he woke up again he found that it was dark. He tried to get back to asleep but couldn't and decided to go for a walk. As he left his room he felt slightly worried, were they allowed out at night, shrugging off the thought he walked down the corridor, the hallways were empty and his footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floors. As he reached the doors he found them open, he left the University into the cold night air, his eyes adjusted to the dark slowly and he found himself walking down towards the gates of the Guild, they swung open silently opening the passage to the city, he bit his lip and glanced at the sky, it was still pitch black and he had plenty of time. He left the Guild and walked through the posh parts of the city, he reached the gate leading to the West Quarter, there were two guards at it and Sekka felt his stomach tie in a knot, but as he drew close they opened the gate, recognising the robes of the Guild. He smiled slightly as they closed behind him and he headed towards where he used to live, perhaps he'd pop back to see his mother. No, bad idea. He carried on walking anyway and stopped as he heard shouts coming from the street that ran along side the street he was on. Carefully he walked down an ally joining the two streets and found himself behind a man holding a knife, there was a young boy stood in front of the man, backing away slowly, the man grabbed the boys collar and lifted him up, Sekka noticed the symbol on the sleeve as the sign of the House Poril, neither the boy nor man had noticed him and he wondered what to do. He hated the Houses but he wouldn't let a kid die because of that.

"I'm gonna stuff you like a pig!" The man said and the boys eyes widened in fear, he wriggled and tried to get free. Sekka summoned his magic and sent a blast of it at the man. It struck his back and he dropped the boy who landed on his feet, the man was sent halfway down the street, he scrambled back up and let out a cry of alarm when he saw Sekka. "Magician!" He yelled and sprinted away into the darkness, a few curious faces appeared in windows then vanished again when they saw Sekka. The only warning they needed was that he was a magician, it didn't matter if he was only a Novice, he was part of the Guild. Sekka walked towards the boy, the kid bowed to him.

"You shouldn't be out this late, it's dangerous." He said to the kid, "Especially in this area." The kid bowed.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, but just remember that if you decide to go walkabouts at night." The boy nodded and bowed again, they walked back up towards the gate, the guards opened the gate again and gave the pair curious glances. They stopped in front of a grand house, there was a woman at the door, she looked slightly distressed, when she saw the boy and Sekka she bowed and rushed forward, hugging the boy.

"My dear son, where have you been? We were worried sick!" She began to scold him and the boy began to tell her how Sekka had saved his life, she turned to Sekka. "Thank you so much, we were worried sick!"

"Don't worry about it."

"Wait here, I wont be a moment." She hurried back inside and returned with a heavy bag of gold, she handed it to Sekka, bowed and went back inside with her son. He stared for a moment and headed back to the Guild, slipping the bag into his pocket. When he reached the gates he saw that there were a few Magicians coming down towards the gates, had they noticed that he was gone? As they drew close he saw that one of them was Lord Thorn, he sighed slightly.

"Sekka? Where've you been?" Thorn asked curiously, the other two halted beside him.

"For a walk."

"You haven't seen a boy around have you, from House Poril?" Another asked.

"Yes, I just dropped him back."

"What? How? His father said that he'd vanished!"

"He'd snuck out I think. I found him in the West Quarter, this man was threatening to stuff him like a pig and was holding a knife so I hit the man with magic and he scampered."

"Blimey." One of the others said. "His father asked us to send three Magicians out, and a Novice who only joined today defeats the attacker."

"Yeah, oh, his mother gave me this." He took the bag out his pocket.

"You can keep it, you earned it." Grinning Sekka headed back to his room, he got changed out his robes, dropped the money onto his bed side table and fell back onto the bed, falling asleep.

"My lord." He woke to find the servant girl shaking him awake, he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Lord Thorn wishes to speak to you in the Novices' Library." He felt a knot tie in the pit of his stomach, he nodded and got out of bed, changing into his robes as she left. As he entered the living room he found that there was a note on his table from Lord Thorn.

_Lessons start tomorrow, Good Luck. _

Smiling slightly he felt the knot begin to fade and he walked with confident steps to the Novices' Library, he'd never been in there properly and wondered where Thorn would be. There were bookcases that reached all the way to the ceiling, there were ladders to get to the top and in front of the bookcases were desks, a few people were sat at them, studying, he wandered around a bit then spotted Thorn sat in a corner, reading a thick volume. He walked over and bowed as Thorn looked up. "Ah, Sekka, sit down." Thorn gestured to a chair opposite him, Sekka sat down and Thorn watched him carefully. "I was wondering if you saw anyone else last night."

"Um, apart from the man with the knife, the kid and his mom, no." Thorn looked thoughtful.

"Did you see the mans face?"

"Well, he was mainly in the shadows, but he did have a beard." He said, pulling the mans face into his mind.

"Hmm…" Thorn leant back, he seemed lost in thought. "You should refrain from leaving the Guild at night."

"Why?" He asked before he could stop himself.

"It's dangerous, we think the man may have been working for a group of murderers and it would be wise if you didn't draw attention to yourself." Sekka nodded, it made sense really. "Oh, and you're robes are in the Novices' Quarters, you're in room 23 with Regin, I think. You might want to go over there and introduce yourself, and change into your Novice Robes." Sekka stood up and bowed. Suki had told him where the Novice Quarters were and he had a rough idea of how they were laid out. As he entered the building he found himself face to face with a tall man in Purple robes, he bowed to the man.

"Ah, you must be Sekka," Without waiting for an answer he continued. "You're in room 23 with Regin." The man left the Quarters and Sekka looked down the corridor, it was empty except for a group of Novices' huddled in a circle at one end. The doors all had numbers on, he was at 18, he walked down the corridor towards the people, as he drew close he realized that they were stood in front of his door, taking a deep breath he was about to ask if they could move, before he'd even opened his mouth though he recognised one of them, Suki. She spotted him and waved him over, pulling him into the huddle she put an arm on his shoulders.

"This is Sekka, Sekka this is," She looked at the crowd and sighed. "They can introduce themselves." Sekka found himself greeting what felt like half the Guild.

"Hey! I'm Maria." A girl with bright red hair said, smiling.

"Hi, um, thanks for the sweets, and the card." He didn't manage to say anything else as she was pulled away and more people took her place.

"Hi I'm Naruto!" A hyper-looking blonde guy said, grinning. "I'm in your year!"

"Hey! I'm Ino!" A girl with long white-blonde hair said, winking before she was swept away.

"I'm Tamaki!"

"I'm Kyoya!"

"I'm Mori."

"I'm Hikaru!" A boy with light red hair said, grinning evilly.

"And I'm Kauro!" His twin walked over and put an arm round his brother, grinning the same wicked grin.

"I'm Light." Many more followed and eventually the crowd cleared slightly, they all watched Sekka. He rubbed his head.

"That's a lot of information to take in, in thirty seconds." Everyone laughed. Suki put her arm back round him and patted his head.

"Aww, poor Sekka." She smirked at him and he ducked under her arm as she tried to reach for the bag of sweets he had in his pocket, sticking his tongue out at her he slipped into his room. Thankfully it was empty, putting his ear to the door he listened to what they were saying.

"I'll get those sweets somehow." Suki said, he imagined her folding her arms and huffing.

"Of course you will." Maria said, the voices faded and he guessed that they were walking away along the corridor. Sighing to himself he turned to look at the room, there was a bathroom two bedrooms leading off the main room that held a bookcase, two desks, a pair of comfy looking sofa's, a circular table and a cupboard filled with quills, ink and parchment, when he examined the cupboard closer he found that it had a fake back, taking the parchment out he took the back out, there was pile of work books behind it, taking one out he wondered why someone had hidden them. He opened it and found all the pages black, replacing the back and stuffing the parchment non too neatly back inside it, he closed the door and walked into one of the bedrooms, he knew that it wasn't his by the fact that there were rows of grand clothes on hangers in the wardrobe, he rolled his eyes and entered the other one, it was slightly smaller. There were three sets of Novice robes on his neat and soft bed. He opened his wardrobe and was surprised to see that there were some new and very nice clothes in. He smiled slightly and got changed into his brown robes, he laced up the black boots and walked back into the main room, the book that he'd taken from the cupboard was still on the floor next to it, picking it up he dropped it onto the desk and took a quill and ink out the cupboard and sat down at the desk. He wondered what to write then decided to make notes on one of the books on the shelves, it wouldn't be very interesting but he wanted to kill time. Taking the book, _Rise of the Empire _off the shelf he began to make notes, he was half way through the third chapter when the door opened, he glanced round, a boy was stood in the doorway, he looked at Sekka and recognition flared in his eyes. The boys brown hair bounced over his eyes as he walked over, he held out a hand.

"I'm Regin."

"I'm Sekka." They shook hands and Regin vanished into his room, closing the door softly behind him. Sekka returned to his writing, wondering if him and Regin would speak again, he doubted it, there was an awkward air about both of them. About half an hour later there was a series of loud knocks on the door, Sekka jumped slightly, smudging his writing, closing the book with a sigh he stood up to answer the door. When he did he was tackled to the ground by Suki, she grabbed the sweets and took off down the corridor, Sekka scrambled up and sprinted after her, doors flashed by. They both stopped when they reached the end of the corridor, breathing heavily, Suki took a few sweets out and threw the rest of the bag to Sekka.

"Thanks." She said, grinning.

"Next time, you could just ask."

"Ah, but that would be too easy." Rolling his eyes he grinned back and walked back to his room, it opened at his touch and he saw that Regin had popped his head out his room, looking confused, when he saw that Sekka had returned he vanished again.

Opening his book again Sekka was about to sit down, but before he had even touched the chair, someone knocked on the door, muttering a colourful curse he opened it and bowed as he saw that it was Lord Thorn. Hovering behind him were a pile of sweets, Thorn made them float into the room and settle themselves on the table. "You forgot them." He smiled at Sekka. "Settling in okay?"

"Seem to be, hopefully I wont have to hide all these sweets from Suki, she just ran half way round the Novice Quarters with my sweets, just to get a handful of them."

"Why not just ask?"

"She said it would be "too easy", I really don't get that." Thorn shrugged.

"Hopefully I'll see you around, if not, I'll see you in my Alchemy lesson."

"You teach Alchemy?"

"Yeah, purple robes are for Alchemy teachers, red robes are for Warrior teachers, green robes are for the Healers, Blue robes for the Administrators, Black robes for the High Lord."

"Ahh… makes sense I suppose." Thorn waved and walked off, Sekka closed the door behind him, Regin had popped back, he was staring at the sweets, open mouthed, he noticed that the door closed and gave the sweets one last look before slipping away. Sekka returned to his writing, almost praying to god that no one would disturb him, thankfully no one did and he continued writing, he was noting the length of the first Emperors rule when he noticed that it had become quite dark, he glanced out the window and gaped, it was almost pitch black outside and all the candles were out. Regin walked into the living room, reading a book, he sat down at the other desk and began to note things on a roll of parchment, Sekka wondered if he should tell him about the books, but what if he wasn't meant to use them? Inwardly shrugging he lit a candle, Regin watched from the corner of his eye as Sekka made the candle float just above the book he was working in. Sekka returned to what he was doing, Regin turned back to his own, for almost an hour they worked in silence until Sekka yawned. He closed the book and screwed the lid back on the ink, while drying the quill. Rubbing his eyes he put the candle out and put it back in its holder, he walked into his room and that was the last Regin saw of him that night.


	3. Day One

**Chapter Three- Day One**

Sekka was woken by a resounding gong the next morning, and someone shaking him awake. When he opened his eyes he found that he was wrapped up in his quilt, Regin was the one shaking him. "Wake up."

"Huh? What? Is it time to get up?"

"If you want to have breakfast, yes." At the mention of breakfast Sekka sprang out of bed. "When the first gong rings, it means that it's breakfast, the second is ten minutes before the start of class, the third is the start of class, next is the end of class, next is the end of break and so on." Regin left the room and Sekka pulled on his Novice robes, brushed his teeth, splashed ice cold water over his face and combed his hair. As he walked into the main room he picked up a jar of ink, checked the top was firmly on and put it in his deep pockets, next he took a few quills and a roll of parchment. His book was on the desk where he left it, Regin was reading again and watching Sekka out the corner of his eye. "Did you have to ask a teacher for a book?"

"Huh?" Sekka looked up. "This book? Oh, I got it from the cupboard."

"But there's just parchment in there."

"It's got a fake back."

"Seriously?" Regin opened the cupboard and found the books, he took one out and replaced everything non too neatly. "Thanks." Regin said before leaving, dropping the book onto the sofa. Sekka rolled his eyes slightly and left the room, the Quarters were a hive of excitement, everyone was talking about their lessons and Sekka felt slightly out of place as he headed for the main building and the food hall. As he walked in he was called by several different voices. Naruto, Gaara, Lucas, Suki and Ino were all sat looking at pieces of paper and eating breakfast, he grinned and walked over, Vanir was across the room talking with Regin.

"Hi." Naruto said happily as Sekka sat down and helped himself to some breakfast. Suki handed him a piece of paper.

"Your timetable, yours Naruto's, Gaara's and Ino's are the same."

"Brilliant, you'll have to show me where to go."

"And me." Gaara said, smiling slightly, he seemed more confident when he was with only a few people.

"Sure, me and Naruto will look after you!" Ino said happily brushing her hair.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, Sekka wondered if the blonder boy had a bowl of sugar for breakfast to make him so hyper. "Oh, Sai and Sakura have got our classes as well, the only one we haven't got with them is Healing on Thursday and today." Sekka looked at his timetable, it went from Monday to Thursday.

"Haven't we got lessons on Friday?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.

"Nah, every Friday is a freeday, we make up for it on Saturday by studying and on Sunday we normally can go to the city to buy things that we might want, like sweets or panchi juice."

"Ohhh…." As they finished their breakfast another gong rang. Sekka glanced at his timetable, Lesson One- History of Magic- Lord Makin. Naruto, Ino, Gaara, Suki and Lucas had all got up, he followed them out the hall where they parted, the first years went up the stairs towards the Alchemy Rooms and the Second years went off towards the Arena in the grounds. As they reached their classroom someone called Naruto's name, they all turned to see a girl with long pink-red hair and a boy with short black hair running towards them.

"Hi!" Naruto bubbled as the pair stopped in front of them, the blonde turned to Sekka and Gaara. "This is Sakura," He put an arm round the girl, she blushed slightly, "And this is Sai," The black haired boy nodded silently in greeting, Sekka wondered if Gaara and Sai shared the same shy personality.

"Hiya!" The girl said, the second bell rang and they rushed into the classroom, bowing to their purple robed teacher. Sakura and Naruto sat next to each other at the pair desks, Gaara was about to sit by Sekka when Ino slid into the seat next to him, Gaara sighed slightly and sat next to Sai who had taken his quills and ink out, Sekka followed suit, so did Gaara. Naruto and Sakura were talking in quiet whispers and their teacher seemed content to let them talk for a while, only a few seats remained empty, he noticed Ino looking at the seats, she glanced around the room.

"Vanir's late, as per usual."

"But this is the first year."

"I know, we had a school thing where we could go and learn a few tricks, he was always late for the lessons, but as it's the first day the teacher probably doesn't mind as much." She explained, a few minutes later Regin walked in with Vanir and a group of people he didn't recognise. They bowed and took their seats. Once silence had fallen in the classroom, Lord Makin addressed the class.

"As you know from your timetables this is History of Magic, but, because I do not know any of you I would like you to introduce yourselves and do a small demonstration of your power." There were a few whispers that soon vanished. Makin pointed to the person at the front, he had blonde mullet shaped hair.

"I'm Demyx." He said, grinning so widely that it rivalled Naruto. Demyx waved his hand at a flame and it went out, he waved again and it lit, there was a small applause and the next person spoke. He had blue hair and dark eyes.

"I'm Saix." He seemed very bored as he clicked his fingers and a panchi fruit from the bowl on the teachers desk landed in his hand. There was another applause. The rest of it passed in a blur to Sekka and soon Ino had finished and it was his turn, he glanced at the empty glass on the teachers glass and checked his power, it was glowing brightly, even more than it had before.

"I'm Sekka." He said, moving the glass in front of him and filling it with water, there were wows from the class and Sekka couldn't help but be surprised as he filled it much easier than before. A loud applause rang out and the teacher looked slightly amazed. Naruto went next, then Sakura, then someone called Zexion, then a person called Axel, then Roxas, then Vanir then Regin and the rest of the class. Once everyone had introduced themselves Lord Makin began to hand books out. They were identical to the books in the back of the cupboard apart from the fact that each one had a small area of white for the owners name and underneath the subject. Everyone picked up their quills and wrote their names and the subject, next to the subject Sekka wrote the teachers name just in case he forgot what it was. Once the class had put their quills back down he addressed them again.

"In History of Magic you will not only study where Magic first came from but the time before magic was used and when those with Magic abilities were hunted down." He paused observing them, "This term you will be learning about the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf. I expect you to study in your spare time and make notes on anything you think may be relevant in the back of your books. As there is not much I can teach you in the short time we have left, so you may all go, and I suggest that you use this time for studying." They all stood up and bowed, hardly containing grins at their luck of being let out early. As they left the room with their books under their arms Sekka wondered if he should go to the Novices' Library to study. Naruto, Ino and Sakura were talking about going to watch Suki and Lucas in the Arena while Gaara was walking along side the still silent Sai. The red head caught up with Sekka, "Should we go and study?" He asked in a low voice, Sekka shrugged, Naruto turned.

"Sai! Are you coming to the Arena?" But he was talking to himself as Sai had gone.

"Where's silent boy gone?" Ino asked, glancing at Gaara.

"Probably to study, it's all he ever does." Sakura said, they had left the University building and were walking towards the huge ring circled by raised seats to watch from. They entered the seats through a door that led to the stairs, they sat half way up and away from the few other people that had come to watch. The arena floor was covered by sand and was easily as big as the Novice Quarters, there were two classes there. The teacher of one was walking around watching as pairs of Novices' duelled against each other. They were all scanning both lessons and Sekka was the first to spot them.

"There they are!" The rest of them looked where he was pointing, Lucas and Suki were duelling each other, but Suki was doing most the attacking.

"Wow, do you think Suki will win?" Ino asked.

"Of course she will, Lucas hates having to attack girls. He says that it damages his honour."

"What honour?" Naruto said, they sniggered quietly. As they watched their friends battle Sekka noticed that Vanir, Regin and two of their group- Crabbe and Goyle- had arrived and were watching the battled take place. Sakura seemed to have lost interest in the lessons and was brushing her hair, Gaara was watching with glazed over eyes, Naruto seemed to only one really interested at all. Ino was talking to Sakura about what she was going to buy on Sunday and how she wanted to see if they had any nice dresses for the Summer Ball. As the gong rang out the lesson stopped and everyone bowed to the teachers. Suki and Lucas left the Arena first and Naruto jumped on Lucas as he left, almost as if he had been expecting it, Lucas stepped to the side and Naruto landed flat on his face. Pouting, the blonde stood back up and folded his arms. The others came to meet Lucas and Suki, they all grinned.

"Hi!" A voice shouted behind them, turning they saw Demyx walking across the grass towards them, there was a group stood on the gravel path some way away, in the group were Saix, Axel, Roxas, Zexion and some other people that they hadn't seen in the class. Axel noticed what Demyx was doing, pointed it out to Saix who promptly stormed over. Demyx was halfway through introducing himself when he was grabbed by the ear and dragged back to the group by Saix. Naruto and the others smothered their laughter, walking back towards the Novice Quarters.

They all entered Naruto's room and the blonde fell onto the sofa, throwing his book over the room onto the desk where it joined scrolls of crumpled parchment. For about ten minutes they sat and talked, Sekka fetched a box of chocolates from his room and they ate their way through them, laughing and joking around. It was five minutes before the end of their break when the door opened and Sai walked in, he looked slightly pale and his eyes were watery. He held a few books clutched to his chest and as he hurried out of the doorway Sekka saw the reason for his mood.

Vanir, Crabbe, Goyle and a few other idiots were shouting stuff, they were holding a book that he recognised as Sai's History of Magic workbook. Naruto put an arm round the boy as he collapsed on the sofa, Sakura slammed the door in Vanirs face and Sekka offered him a sherbet lemon, which the boy took gladly. Sekka checked the cupboard and found that it too had a fake back, he handed Sai one of the books that were hidden behind it and the boy cheered up considerably. Just as everyone was enjoying themselves, the door banged open and Vanir strode in, smirking, he was holding a box of paper and as he opened it and they fell to the floor, Sai ran to pick them up, but Crabbe held him back. Vanir smirked and laughed as he made a candle hover over the paper, clearly threatening to burn them.

As he let the candle fall, Sekka's anger got the better of him, he put the candle out with his mind and, all magic forgotten, launched himself at Vanir, the other Novice, caught off guard, was forced back out the door and into the room across the hall, it belonged to Kauro and Hikaru who yelled in surprise then began to chant, "Fight! Fight!" As they saw who it was, many people had come to see what the disturbance was and they gaped as they saw that Vanir was pinned down while Sekka repeatedly head butted him. As people began to join the twins chant someone grabbed Sekka's robes and pulled him off Vanir who had a very big bruise on his head, Sekka was dropped unceremoniously to the ground by Axel. Vanir stood up as Sekka was helped up by a grinning Kauro. Axel stared at both of them, he was torn between amusement, surprise and anger.

"Why the hell are you two fighting?!" He demanded and Sekka told him what had happened back in the room. Axels sharp tone vanished as he listened and Vanir snorted.

"So what? Silent boys a stupid bookw-" He didn't get any further because Lucas' fist had collided with his face, Vanir fell back in surprise as Lucas was dragged back by Saix who was looking bored, even in this! Vanir fumed, he turned his eyes on Sekka who was smiling at Sai.

"Vanir, shut up! Sekka, don't beat the crap out of him again!" A few people laughed at Sekka's innocent expression.

"Me?"

"Yes you!" Axel snapped back.

"Alright, I suppose, unless he provokes me."

"Good." As Axel looked away and Sekka turned his back Vanir got his revenge, he sent a sun strike at Sekka's back, the force of it sent him flying forward, a few people screamed as he smashed into the table and lay there, unmoving. Vanir smirked and walked towards the boys silent body, he raised his hand to send another strike when there was the sound of a powerful voice.

"What's going on?" Lord Thorn had entered the Novice Quarters, most people ran off, but Vanir didn't have time to. Thorn stared as Sai ran to Sekka and tried to wake him, the normally silent boy checked his pulse and let out a relieved sigh, he shook Sekka who let out a low groan. Thorn turned his anger filled eyes on Vanir who backed away slightly, a few other Magicians entered the Quarters having received a call from Thorn. Two were healers, the other was an Alchemist. The healers rushed to Sekka and examined him, Sai was pulled away by Axel who said that the Healers needed space to work. A few curious faces had appeared again and they let out gasps of shock as they saw that Sekka was unconscious.

"Explain what happened here!" Lord Thorn thundered to Vanir who whimpered then said how Sekka had attacked him.

"That's because you tried to burn my notes that I'd made!" Sai shouted, he shook himself out of Axel's grip and pointed an accusing finger at Vanir who smirked.

"Do you think it's funny!" Thorn shouted. "He had no shields up! You could have killed him!"

"That was his own fault!" Vanir snapped back. "And I hope that he does die!" There were remarks of disgust all around and even the healers couldn't contain their anger, forgetting their work they stormed over and began to shout at Vanir, saying how it was no laughing matter. Even over the chaos that had ensued they heard the voice that spoke next.

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint you, I don't plan on dying today, much to interesting." Sekka had pushed himself to his feet and was pulling shards of wood out his arms and back. The healers ran back over, they used their power to heal him and he cricked his neck rubbing his shoulder where it was cut. Vanir snarled as Sekka walked over to the desk and took a bag of sweets off it, he sat down, munching on them. Most people were gaping, it would normally take a Magician at least a few days to recover from being hit by a strike without having a shield up. Thorn repaired the table and the Healers and Alchemist left, faces vanished and soon only Vanir, Thorn, Sekka and Sai remained.

"I think it might be best if Regin moves rooms and Sai, you move into this one." Sai grinned slightly and ran off to find Regin to tell him. "Vanir, you can do a months work in the Library, bear in mind that if Sekka hadn't woken up when he had, you would have had a much worse punishment." Vanir was looking horrified at his punishment and quickly ran off. Thorn glanced at Sekka who gave him a reassuring glance.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, really."

"Good, I'll see you soon then." Thorn left, as soon as he'd closed the door behind him, Sai, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Gaara, Suki, Lucas, Hikaru, Kauro and the others all ran into the room, when they saw that Sekka was awake and alright they practically jumped on him, hugging and laughing. Sai had told Regin what had happened and they were going to switch rooms that night. As they were talking the gong sounded and they went to their next lesson, almost as if no one had been in a fight. Their next lesson was a Warrior lesson and Sekka was wondering what they would do in it.

Their teacher was someone called Lord Kyruto and according to Suki and Lucas (who had a wonderfully boring lesson of Alchemy ahead of them) he was one of the best Warriors in the entire world. When they entered the classroom they found that no teacher was there, Regin, Crabbe, Goyle and Vanir were already there and giving Sekka death glares. As they sat down chatter began to rise in the room, Sekka was talking to Naruto and Gaara while Sai was absorbed in a book. A group of people arrived, Axel at the front talking to Saix. They sat just behind Sekka and Sai who were one row from the back, Demyx was behind Sekka and Zexion was behind Sai. The blonde grinned slightly, were him and Naruto related? They were both always grinning!

"HIYA!" Demyx yelled down Sekka's ear, causing him to jumped slightly, both Sekka and Sai turned around to face the hyper blonde.

"Hi."

"Hey! D'you wanna play a game after lessons?!"

"Um…" Before Demyx could try to persuade them to play he was hit by a pack of cards.

"Owww!" The blonde moaned and someone called Luxord snapped at Axel.

"Why the hell did you throw my cards at him?!" Sekka picked them up and tossed them back, both he and Sai turned back round as Ino began to talk to them about the lesson. The second gong rang and the teacher walked in. He had long silver-grey hair, golden eyes and was wearing a dark red robe, it rustled as he walked to his desk and observed the class.

"Welcome to your first Warrior lesson. Follow me." He left the room without so much as a "nice to meet you". They all hurried along after him, Demyx bickering with Axel all the way. They left the university and entered the arena, thankfully it was empty and there were no students or teachers watching. Lord Kyruto stopped in the centre of the circle and folded his arms. "Can anyone name the most important weapon to a Magician?" Hands shot up, Kyruto pointed at Roxas.

"Control?"

"No." He pointed at Vanir.

"Power?"

"No." Sekka put his hand up hesitantly, his stomach tightened as Kyruto pointed at him,

"Knowledge?" Kyruto's mouth twisted into a smile.

"Correct!" His voice echoed around the Arena. "A magician might have the biggest amount of power in the universe, but without the knowledge of how to use it properly then he is useless." The Novices' glanced at each other. "Today, I am going to teach you how to send a strike correctly." Vanir snorted quietly, but their teacher still heard. "Care to demonstrate?" He asked and Vanir swaggered to the front.

Kyruto created a shield and Vanir raised a hand to attack, there was a flash of fire and the attack melted as it hit the shield, Kyruto lowered it. "That was the wrong way to send a strike, form a line!" Everyone did so, Sekka found himself behind Roxas and in front of Demyx who was muttering nervously. When Sekka stepped forward for his turn he bit his lip, raising a hand he drew on a small amount of his power, he shaped it slightly and sent it, the strike was barely visible but when it hit the shield it made the same impact as everyone else's. "Finally!" Kyruto exclaimed, lowering his shield. "That was the correct way to send a strike, you shape it so that your attack is barely visible, show them again!"

For the rest of the lesson Sekka had to show everyone else how to send the correct type of strike and by the end of the lesson he was so tired. They met up with Lucas and Suki in the Food hall where Sekka almost fell asleep in his dinner, Gaara and Sai had to explain what had happened to the second years. Half way through dinner three magicians stormed into the hall, they were arguing and curious glances turned in their direction, they all collected their own dinner and walked back out, leaving a buzz of chatter in their wake. The gong rang and they headed off to the library because they had an hour of studying.

As they sat down at the tables Sekka fell asleep. Sai shook his awake as the librarian walked by, as soon as the person had moved, Sekka plonked his head back down on the table and closed his eyes, Naruto laughed as Sai tried in vain to get him up. They all, except Sekka who had fallen asleep, stood up and bowed as Lord Kyruto walked round the bookcases. The Lords eyes travelled to Sekka who was still asleep, Gaara kicked the sleeping boy, who still didn't move. Kyruto shook Sekka, this time he sat up, when he saw Kyruto he leapt to his feet and bowed, yawning slightly.

"The High Administrator wishes to see you." The Warrior informed him and walked off, Sekka hurried off towards the Administrators office, wondering what it was about, probably the fight. He knocked on the door three times when he reached the office.

"Come in," When he walked in he was surprised to see that Lord Kyruto and Lord Thanil were there, he stared and took the seat offered to him after he had bowed to the Lords. "Ah, Sekka, I have asked you to come here to discuss the claims some of the Lords have put in."

"Claims?"

"For your guardianship."

"Guardianship?"

"Yes, it is possible for a teacher to take on the responsibility of a Novices' training, by doing so they would be the one who had to make sure that the Novice completed all their tasks and studies."

"Oh."

"Two claims have been put in, one by Lord Kyruto and another by Lord Thanil. It is up to you to decide who you want to become your guardian." Sekka glanced at both of the Lords. "I would like your answer soon, you may go." Sekka rose and bowed before leaving the room and going back to the library, there was only twenty minutes of the days work left and Sekka was glad about that.

"What happened?" Sai asked as soon as he had sat back down and pulled a book towards him.

"Lord Kyruto and Lord Thanil have put in claims to be my guardian."

"Huh? Why would Thanil want your guardianship? He's Vanir's father!"

"What?"

"He's Vanir's father, he probably wants your guardianship to get revenge for his son."

"Mmm, but I'm meant to think about it first, I'll tell Lord Lorlen in the morning, or later on." Sekka put his head back down and closed his eyes.

He was woken by the end of lesson gong and Sai shaking him. They walked back to their room in the Quarters and after a few minutes Hikaru, Naruto, Suki, Lucas, Sakura, Ino, Gaara and Maria had joined them, Sekka was handing out sweets, that he seemed to have no lack of, while Suki and Lucas moaned about how much homework they'd been given, it was almost an hour later when Kauro joined them, he'd been talking to Demyx who, Sekka discovered, was Naruto's cousin. As they sat talking, Sai slipped away to the library and it was almost pitch black outside by the time he returned. When Sekka lay down on his bed that night, he wondered why someone wanted to be his guardian, maybe Thanil had put a claim in first and Kyruto knew why he wanted to have guardianship of him.


	4. Morgoths Spy

**Chapter Four- Morgoths Spy**

By Friday Sekka was smothered with Homework, he had to study the correct use of strikes and shields and write a ten inch essay for Lord Kyruto, study the Amber Order for Lord Makin, make notes on the Sackakan War for Lord Rothen and label the human body with all the bones for Lord Dorrien. He hadn't given Lorlen an answer yet as he was waiting until he next ran into him.

He was sat in the shade of a tall oak tree when Hikaru and Kaoru came over both looking annoyed. Looking up at their expressions he closed his notebook. "What's wrong?" He asked, wondering if they'd been given detention, again.

"Lady Tya wont let us in the library!" Hikaru moaned, dropping his book onto the ground.

"Why not?"

"She says that we'll cause trouble and people need to study."

"Well, will you cause trouble?"

"NO!" Kauro snapped leaning back, Sekka raised his eyebrows at him, the twins gave in. "Okay, so we were gonna play a trick on Vanir."

"What trick?"

"We were gonna make his books fly round the room, nothing to damaging."

"And Tya wont let you in?"

"No, and we can't slip past her." They looked sideways at him and both grinned. "But she'll let you in." Sekka rolled his eyes.

"No."

"Aww! Come on! You joined in when we made him spill him drink all down himself at dinner!"

"So, that was different, and anyway, there's a pile of homework waiting in my room to be done."

"Please!" They moaned, he shook his head and carried on making notes on the Sackakan War in his notebook. Eventually they subsided into silence and he continued his work in peace. As he closed his notebook they started again. "Please Sekka!"

"No," He said firmly. "Ask someone else."

"We have, Sai and Gaara have dragged Naruto, Sakura and Ino into the library and we can't go in, so we can't ask them, Suki and Lucas are in the Arena and their teacher wont let us talk to them while they're working, Kyoya is studying in an Alchemy room, Maria is busy, Tamaki doesn't want to wreck his hair and Mori has gone to the city Library."

"Tough." Sekka said, standing up and walking back towards the Novice Quarters with the twins hurrying after him.

"Then will you come to the city to have a look round?"

"I'm going on Sunday."

"Please!" Sekka sighed and gave in.

"Alright, let me just put my books back." They waited outside the Quarters while he put his books away and dropped his money into his pocket. He hadn't told anyone about the incident in the city and it seemed that Thorn had dropped it, but whenever Sekka saw him he still looked worried.

As they headed for the Guild gates, Hikaru and Kauro talked animatedly about the buildings in the Inner City, Sekka constantly reminded them that he had also been to the Inner City and wasn't completely clueless when it came to the Palaces of the Houses. They walked around the shops for a while, Sekka brought a few bottles of panchi juice and a lot of sweets as his own supply was running low. Hikaru and Kauro topped up their itching powder, fake soap, pepper spray and other joke items, with their pockets bulging they headed back to the Guild, taking the longer route past the Outer Wall. "Hey, Sekka."

"Yeah?"

"Me and Hikaru are heading out to the city tonight, d'you wanna come?"

"Isn't it dangerous at night?"

"Only if you go near the Slums. We're staying near the Inner City so we shouldn't be targeted by anyone, you in?" Sekka thought about it for a while.

"I'm in."

"YES!" They both exclaimed, "By the way, don't wear your robes, we don't want to be noticed."

"Ok, what time are we heading out?"

"About, midnight, everyone should be asleep by then, just to be on the safe side though, we're gonna slip out the windows, me and Kauro'll stay awake and when we think everyone's asleep we'll come and wake you up."

"Got it."

The rest of the day, the trio spent studying, and when they said goodnight, Hikaru winked and Sekka smiled slightly.

It was pitch black in his room when Sekka was woken by someone tapping on his window, he remembered the plan and got dressed, when he opened the window he found himself face to face with Hikaru who was making a candle hover just above him, blowing his own candle out, Sekka slipped out the room and gently closed the window. They put the candle out as they walked across the grass, he noticed that the twins were dressed in finely made clothes, he realized that his own were almost as grand as theirs and smiled slightly, the gates opened as they reached them and they entered the Inner City, they slipped into an alleyway as a guard walked past, there seemed to be a lot on duty that night. As they walked down the alley Sekka began to feel that something was wrong, why had Thorn asked him if he'd seen anyone else? Why were so many people on guard? Pushing these and other questions out his mind he followed the twins down the alley, suddenly the twins stopped and he almost walked into them. He glanced round the corner to see what had made them stop, there was a guard lying on the ground, and a man in long black robes stood over him, in the mans hand was an engraved knife. He heard Hikaru draw a sharp breath. "Is that a Sackakan?" Sekka asked in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Yes." Kauro answered, "But not just an ordinary one, he's an Ichani, a-"

"Black Magician." Sekka finished, his heart almost stopped in fear, he'd read about them, they were impossibly strong from drawing power from their victims. He stared, why was one in Imardin? He felt one of the twins tugging at him as they backed away from the alley entrance. "We can't leave the guard." He hissed at them

"We have to warn the Guild." Hikaru said, he was the one tugging at his shoulder.

"Then, you warn the Guild and I'll keep him here, otherwise he'll escape and we wont be able to find him again, they're good at hiding themselves I've heard."

"You can't hold off an Ichani."

"But I can give him a damn good thrashing, just hurry up." The twins gave in and sprinted off to the Guild, Sekka watched as the Ichani bent towards the guard and prepared to cut his throat and take the mans small amount of magic that would strengthen himself. The guards eyes were filled with fear, they flicked to Sekka and there was a plea in them that he couldn't refuse, stepping out the alley he drew his power to make a shield if he needed to. It was time to see how much Kyruto's lessons had paid off. "Hai! Magician!" The Ichani turned to observe him, a sneer curled on his lips.

"What's this? A Novice has found me?" The man snorted in disbelief, "I was hoping for someone more powerful, but you'll do." As the Ichani sent a powerful strike towards him, Sekka threw up is shield, the strikes came again and again, he didn't have any chance of retaliating. Hurry up Hikaru, Kauro! He thought desperately, he should have heeded their warning. As the strikes stopped, he carefully lowered his shield, ready to throw it back up at any minute, the Ichani was sneering. He was about to draw on his own power when he realized what the Ichani was trying to do, he would make Sekka exhaust himself, then, take the remaining power that he had from him, killing him. As a strike was thrown towards him he rolled to the side, diving out the way, the Ichani was confused, Sekka hadn't used all his strength, so why was he fighting without using magic? Before the man could strike again, Sekka kicked a dust cloud in his face, he grabbed the guard and pulled him into an alley.

"Stay here." He told the guard before diving back towards the Ichani, thankfully the Black Magician had no shield or barrier up and Sekka kicked them in the back, they flew forward then retaliated with a series of strikes, making Sekka put up a shield, he wondered if the twins had reached the Guild yet, they must have, unless there were more Black Magicians about and they were fighting them. As there was a lapse in the attacks, Sekka sent his own attack, it made the man stumble back and Sekka sent another, even stronger than the first, the shield wavered but didn't fall, he sent even more, keeping his own shield up. Then he realized that his power was fading, he was running out of energy, he saw that the Ichani was also loosing energy and sent almost everything he had left, dropping his shield, at the Ichani, the shield fell but the man still had some energy left, he was about to strike when a combined heat strike and fire strike hit the Magician, Sekka turned to see Lord Lorlen, Lord Kyruto, Lord Thanil and Lord Thorn with Hikaru and Kauro at the head. The twins ran towards him, jumping on him and hugging him. "Good job you arrived when you did." Sekka told them, he was breathing heavily.

"You did well." He turned to see Lord Lorlen walking towards him, he was smiling slightly. "To be able to hold your own against an Ichani as a Novice is a feat indeed."

"It's a spy, one of Morgoths I presume." Kyruto said from where he was crouched next to the body, the teacher looked at Sekka. "Nice work."

"Thanks, but it'll take a lot more to defeat a Master Ichani."

"More than a lot more."

They walked back up to the Guild with Kyruto and Lorlen. As they reached the University, the Administrator turned to them.

"It would be wise not to wander the city at night from now on, Morgoth will surely send more, and we would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about tonight." The trio nodded and bowed, heading back to their rooms.


	5. The Company of Valinor

**Chapter Five- The Company of Valinor**

Almost three weeks had passed since the Sackakan spy had been killed, Sekka had become Kyruto's apprentice and was now even more loaded down with homework, if not for Sai, he would have fallen behind long ago. It was a Thursday and he was getting ready for his first lesson of Warrior Studies, his ten inch homework was in his hand and he was waiting for Sai to finish his breakfast. The gong rang and they hurried off, both talking about the homework and what they'd wrote, Sai had done almost double what he needed to but he did spend almost all his free time in the library, when they walked into the classroom they found that no one except their teacher was in there, they bowed and he looked up. "There are no classes today boys,"

"Huh? Why not?" Sai asked, shock in his voice, he never missed a lesson, never ever, ever!

"There is a Company of Riders coming from Valinor and preparations have to be made, it would be best if you headed back to your Quarters and kept out of the servants way." They bowed and left the room.

"Valinor?" Sekka asked as they walked back to their quarters.

"It's a city of men, the capital of Eä,"

"Ohhh…"

"Hey, shall we go see if they're coming yet?"

"Might as well, nothing else to do, besides study." They walked back to the University, there was a crowd at the doors and the higher Magicians were stood on the front steps. Sai spotted Lucas and Suki near the front and they slipped through the students to stand next to them.

"Hey, are they coming yet?" Sai asked, everyone was staring at the Higher Magicians expectantly.

"They entered the Inner Quarter about five minutes-" She suddenly pointed, "There here!" Everyone turned to look as the gates swung open, there were about twenty people in the Company, they were all riding white horses and most wore pale blue cloaks. There was a young boy near the front who was constantly talking to the man riding next to him, the boy had light silver hair and was dressed in a white shirt and grey trousers. When he saw the crowd at the steps he stopped talking and began to grin, they all climbed gracefully off their mounts and shook hands with the Higher magicians, the man that had been riding next to the boy looked a lot like him, he had shoulder length silver hair and was dressed in a black jacket and trousers, he was the only one wearing a black cloak. The boy was looking round the entrance, he was beginning to look bored, the students drew back, bowing to the Magicians as they Company passed and walked down a corridor towards the High Lords Office. The crowd scattered and all headed back to where they'd come from, Lucas was heading to the Library with Suki, Sai and Sekka were going to join them once they'd picked up their books.

-Note- I know it's a short chapter, but oh well, I forgot to introduce the FF Charters in this one, so I'll do it in the next chapter. -Note-


	6. The Sackakan Warrior

**Chapter Six- The Sackakan Warrior**

The next day Sekka, Sai, Gaara and Naruto were walking towards the library to study when the caught sight of the rider with silver hair, he seemed to have lost his way in the Guild. "Hey!" Sekka called, bowing, "Lost?"

"Sort of." The man replied, his green eyes scanned to corridor, "D'you know where the Arena is?"

"Yeah, it's outside, this way." The other three hurried after Sekka and the man as he led him down the stairs towards the main doors.

"I'm Kadaj by the way,"

"I'm Sekka, this is Naruto, Gaara and Sai." He pointed to each in turn, they reached the Arena and Kadaj walked inside, thanking them. "Shall we stay to watch?" Sekka asked as Kadaj passed out of earshot.

"Could." They climbed the stairs and settled in the seats to watch, they were just out of view but still could see what was happening in the arena. Kadaj was practicing with a long, curved sword, he swung it around his head and thrust it into the heart of an invisible attacker. Thanil was watching him, Vanir at his side, Kadaj began to dart around the Arena, sand flew into the air and as Kadaj parried a blow a sword clashed against his own. There was another of the riders with brown hair, this one was in red, his sword was glowing crimson, they began to fight, throwing kicks as they did so. Vanir stared as the pair jumped into the air, their swords meeting in a clash of sparks. Sai had started reading but was now watching over the top of the book, the others were staring as well. It seemed like an hour had passed when the pair were finally worn out, they shook hands then left the arena, everyone still staring. "Well, you can't say it wasn't interesting." Sekka said, standing to leave, as they did, they caught sight of the young boy with silver hair, he was talking to Demyx who was sat in the shade of a tree, playing a guitar.

They walked back to the Novice Quarters and headed into Sekka's room, Hikaru and Kauro came in after a while and began asking about sweets, which Sekka had hidden in his room. He rolled his eyes, giving in to their moaning, as he walked into his room the door slammed shut behind him, he jumped and turned, there was a man stood in front of his door, dressed in black, another Ichani. He backed off, swallowing, the Ichani advanced, laughing.

"It seems that the Guild will never know I was here, as there will be no one to tell the High Lord," He laughed even louder, clearly he didn't know that there was a group of Novices' in the main room. The man advanced again, he took the knife out his belt and pointed it at Sekka who glanced at the window, it was closed. The Ichani stepped in front of the window, creating a barrier in front of the door, Sekka saw someone over his shoulder, they were walking past the window, Kadaj. Sekka gathered his power and ran at the man, colliding with his stomach, the Black Magician fell backwards and Sekka leapt over him, kicking the glass in the window it smashed, Kadaj jumped slightly and drew his sword, the door to his room burst open and the others ran in as the Ichani jumped out the window after Sekka. He stopped at the sight of Kadaj and hissed, he glanced at the others who had climbed out after him. "You cannot escape Morgoth, the Guild will fall to his power!" Then he was gone in a cloud of black smoke. Kadaj sheathed his sword and Sekka fixed the window.

"I must report this to the High Lord." He turned to Sekka, "Be careful from now on, don't take any chances." He hurried off to the University.

"Someone really has it in for you." Sai said, his eyebrows raised.

"Telling me." He walked off in the direction of the University.

-Note- Another short one, anyway, any guesses as to who Morgoth is? (Besides the Morgoth from The Silmarallion.)  
Sephiroth also comes into this, should he be good or evil?  
When should the next attack be?  
Why does Sekka keep getting attacked? (I'll give you a clue, it's to do with his "dead" brother.) -Note-


	7. Silence Traitor

**Chapter Seven- Silence Traitor**

Silence hung over the Guild like a cloud, Sekka was walking down the University corridors, a pile of books floating just ahead of him, the moonlight bounced off the marble floors and danced around the hallways. He looked up at the stars, smiling, he felt so at home in the Guild, it was three days after the Ichani Warrior had attacked, he'd heard nothing from the High Lord or Lord Lorlen. Lord Thorn was barely seen and often sent far a field on missions that he would discuss with no one but the High Lords.

His boots made a clinking noise on the cold floors, as he turned a corner he heard the sound of footsteps, stopping he turned and looked up and down the corridor, no one there, shrugging uneasy thoughts off he carried on. The footsteps came again, somewhere on his right but there was just a wall there, whoever it was would be level with him now. Making the books float to the floor he pressed his ear to the wall, he could hear someone on the other side, then there was a wave of powerful magic, he took a step away from the wall as the footsteps started again, running along side the wall he kept apace with the hidden person. He found his way blocked by a chest and had to dodge out the way, the footsteps had stopped, he wondered if the person had sensed him there but seconds later the chest began to move, Sekka ducked down, hoping to avoid detection. Once the chest had been moved by magic there was a small hole in the wall, someone in red robes climbed gracefully out the hole, as the person straightened his face was revealed. _Lord Thanil, what was he doing down there?_ Sekka wondered, Thanil glanced left and right, passing over the Novices' head, then the Magician walked off down the corridor, he sighed with relief as Thanil passed out of sight, the chest was moving back into its original position but before it closed Sekka slipped through the hole, _time to see what's down here. _He created a globe of light and the hallway was revealed, luckily he could stand up straight but he doubted if Thanil would have been able to. The hallway stretched off in both directions and Sekka decided to follow the way the Thanil had come, he set off, keeping track of where he'd come. The walls had been bare for most the way but soon there were small barred windows set into locked doors, Sekka peered into each one and most were empty, until the next one. He looked in and his breath caught in his throat, inside was a person, they were chained to the wall. He pushed on the door, it was locked, he drew on magic to open it but as he tried to force the lock he was thrown backwards and into the wall. The air was knocked out of him and he shook his head to clear it. Coughing slightly he pulled himself up and peered into the room, the person had looked up, it was a girl, her black hair hung over her emerald green eyes. He guessed that she thought he was either an illusion or hadn't seen her as she put her head back down, he tried to lock again and got the same result. He wondered if this was why Thanil had been down here, he had tried to free her. Somehow though, it didn't fit together, why had Thanil even come down here? It didn't lead to anywhere…was Thanil behind this? Pushing the thought from his mind he sat down against the door, if he told Lorlen then he'd want to know why Sekka had even been down here, he couldn't tell him that he'd been spying on Thanil, or could he? As he dropped his head onto the metal door it jolted, he yelled as it opened and he fell backwards into the room, the girl looked up, he could see here from where he lay, upside down, she was gaping at him. Sekka pulled himself up and straightened his robes, then he walked over and willed the chains to break, they did and he helped the girl up, he noticed that her ears were pointed, she was an elf, trying to contain his excitement he smiled at her. She was still staring at him like she couldn't believe it and as though she thought that he was an illusion, the door begun to close and he pulled her through the doorway before it did. "Wh…who are you?" She sounded slightly scared and slightly confused.

"Sekka, you?"

"Aria, but why are you here, Thanil will kill you."

"Thanil imprisoned you?"

"Yes, I knew too much, I think." She suddenly gasped, staring at the passage, he drew on his magic but no one was there.

"What the? Don't do that, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, but I need to get back to my homeland, they must be warned about the Ichani!" She pulled him along the corridor and would have taken many wrong turns if Sekka hadn't corrected her, he was surprised that he remembered the way. He climbed out the passage first, the corridor beyond was empty, he helped her out and they crept long the hallways towards the gates. Once out the University, Aria ran to the stables and climbed onto a horse.

"Hey! Aren't you gonna stay and make sure Thanil is punished?!"

"There's no time!" She cried, "You mustn't tell anyone you saw me, it's too dangerous, the Ichani will come after you next!"

"They already have, I've fought a spy and a Warrior, and I only joined the Guild in Winter!" She smiled at him then rode off, the main gates swung open for her and soon she was gone into the night. He stared for a few minutes until he remembered his books and ran back for them. When he walked into the Novice Quarters he found Sai was still awake, reading.

"What the hell have you been doing?!" The boy shouted jumping up off the sofa. "You're covered in dust!" Sekka looked down, he was indeed completely covered in dust and dirt.

"Passage way didn't agree with me,"

With that he walked into his room, got changed and lay down, his dreams were plagued by Thanil and an army of Ichani warriors. He had barely fallen asleep when he was woken by a piercing scream, he sprinted out his room and almost collided with Sai who had run out his own room. They ran into the corridor, curious faces had appeared from doors, people were whispering, the scream came again, from outside the Quarters, a few of them went into their rooms to look from the window but most ran outside into the cold night air to see for themselves who was screaming. The first Novice out was a boy named Antio, as soon as the boy ran out the door he was thrown back by a barrier of magic, a few other Novices fell back, but most skidded to a halt. No one could see who was making the barrier, and no one wanted to find out, Sekka stared for a moment then ran back inside, he climbed out the window, whoever had made the barrier hadn't thought to cover the windows, Sai had climbed out after him and they were both scanning the Guild grounds for signs of life. The first they saw was a boy covering on the grass, cries of shock showed that the other Novices' had seen it too. There was an Ichani stood above him, holding a knife, Sekka knew that he was the one casting the barrier but he also knew that the Magician had no shield up, big mistake. Not wanting to waste any magic Sekka sprinted at the back of the man, he leapt onto his back and they both toppled to the floor, the Magician was the first one up and sent strikes at Sekka, who managed to dodge them, The Novice back flipped up and landed at Sai's side. The other Novice was holding a scroll in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, he began to sweep the brush over the scroll and after a few seconds there was a painting of around ten beasts on the scroll, as a strike reflected off his shield Sai touched the scroll and said in a whisper, "Choujuu Giga." The painting came to life and the beasts ran forward, attacking the Magician, a strike hit one and it burst into ink, splattering the Ichani and almost blinding him. A second beast attacked and this struck it's target, it bit a huge gash in the Magicians side, despite the shield. Another three took the Magician down and the Ichani fell with a shriek.

"Where on earth did you learn that?!" Sekka asked as the beasts exploded into ink that faded back into the scroll.

"Why d'you think I've been studying so much? I wanted to be able to use an attack that was effective and didn't use as much of my power as most attacks."

"Certainly was effective." He muttered, Lord Lorlen had come running across the grass and was telling the other Novices' to get back to bed, they were about to follow the others back inside when Lorlen called them over.

"Well done, both of you, I'll let you get back to bed in a bit, but first I want to talk to you in my office." The two Novices' glanced at each other and followed him. Magicians gave them curious glances as they passed but none said anything. When they walked into the Administrators office the first thing that Sekka noticed was that Thanil was in there, he used all his self control to stop himself from bolting at the sight of the Magician. Sai and Sekka took the seats offered to them, thankfully, the ones furthest from Thanil. Lorlen seated himself behind his desk. "Sekka, Lord Thanil is wondering if you have changed your mind."

"About what my lord?"

"Guardianship."

"No, Lord Kyruto is a very good teacher and Guardian, I see no reason to change Guardians. And anyway, why would I want to be taught by a-" Sekka caught himself in time.

"By a what, may I ask?" Lorlen asked, leaning forward, Thanil was hissing slightly.

"A traitor!" Sekka yelled, jumping to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at Thanil who also stood up.

"How dare you!" He roared, snatching at Sekka who ducked out the way.

"What on earth do you mean Sekka?" Lorlen asked, pushing them both back into their seats.

"He imprisoned an Elf called Aria in one of the passages, she told me!" Lorlen gaped and Thanil blanched.

"Thanil, is this true?" Thanil began to laugh humourlessly.

"It's too late now! The Ichani will attack the Elven cities in two days and they have no warning!"

"They do, Aria went in the night." Thanil stared.

"NO!" Magicians rushed in and held Thanil down as he tried to attack Sekka, Lorlen told the Novices' to go back to their Quarters and sleep, as Sekka left Vanir walked in, he gaped as he saw his father shouting at the other Magicians and ranting about how the world would fall. Sekka paused and turned to look back to Thanil. He pointed at Thanil.

"Silence traitor." And with that, he left the room.


	8. The Hearing

**Chapter Eight- The Hearing**

The news that Thanil was a traitor spread like wild-fire through the Guild, Sekka must have recounted his story about a million times for everyone in the Guild. Thanil was being held in the castle prisons and guarded day and night by the most skilled Magicians, Lord Kyruto had questioned him many times but the only answer was that he did what he did for the good of Imardin. There was Hearing to be held and everyone was asked to be present, Sekka was going to be giving evidence and they had contacted Aria, the Ichani attack had been thwarted and she had agreed to come to the Guild to give evidence. Lessons had been cancelled by the uproar that had been created in the houses, many courts were held and Sekka would often keep to the library to avoid the Lords of the Houses that wanted to talk to him about what had happened, Vanir was keeping his head down and giving Sekka glares at every chance.

It was a Thursday that the Hearing was held on, Sekka was sat with Sai and Gaara with the other first year Novices', Lucas and Suki had wished him good luck before going to sit with the second years, he was feeling very nervous, even though almost everyone had told him that there was no reason to be scared. He had talked a lot with Lorlen and it seemed that the punishment for Thanil would either be imprisonment or execution. He hoped that they would choose the first as he didn't want Vanir, no matter how much he disliked him, loosing a father.

Magicians filed into the hall, some stopping to have a small talk with Lorlen or Aria who was stood near the doors with a tall elf with long brown hair, clearly a Guard. Once everyone was seated the High Lord walked in, Sekka had only seen him once and that had been fleetingly, he wore long black robes and had brown hair and sharp eyes, he seemed strict at the moment but sometimes he could be forgiving. Everyone rose and bowed then took their seats again, silence fell and Thanil was brought in, the mans eyes fell on Sekka and he snarled. The Novice shrank back in his seat until he felt someone ruffle his hair, turning round he saw that Lord Thorn was stood behind him, he gave him a questioning look and Thorn mouthed one word, _Guard._. They had given him a Guard? Why? Did they think that he might be attacked, there was a good chance, he supposed and turned he attention back to the front. Lorlen had stood up, bowed again to the High Lord then addressed the rest of the Guild. "We are here today to pass our judgement on Thanil of House Faren, who recently imprisoned Lady Aria, Elven Duchess of Valhalla." There were many mutterings, Sekka stared, she was a Duchess?! "I call to the stand Duchess Aria of Valhalla." Aria rose and walked to the front, she was dressed in a lime green dress and a light blue cloak, there was a necklace of pearls round her neck and at her side was a long sword, style and strength, Sekka thought with a smile. "Please tell the court what happened and how you became imprisoned." She nodded, bowed to the High Lord and began.

"I was travelling in the west region of the Forest when I was attacked by two Ichani, I managed to overcome to two attackers but was greatly weakened by the fight, as I sat to rest and gather my strength when Thanil rode along, he was accompanied by three Ichani, two of them pinned me down and were about to take my remaining power when Thanil told them to stop, from the way they obeyed him I guessed that he was their leader or higher in authority than them. He took some of my strength and I faded into unconsciousness, when I woke I was in the chamber in the passageways. Thanil questioned me everyday and attempted to invade my mind, I managed to stop him and covered Valhalla's location, however he gave a drug to weaken my resistance and if Sekka hadn't found the chamber my mind would have been breached." Silence followed her words, then murmurings, many people glared at Thanil and Sekka heard quiet sobs nearby, he turned to see Vanir and a woman he guessed was his mother, the woman was crying into a tissue and Vanir was staring at the ground, tears rolling down his face.

"Thank you Aria." Lorlen talked quietly to the Higher Magicians then turned back to the Guild. "I now call to the stand, Sekka, Apprentice of Lord Kyruto." Feeling the knot tighten in his stomach he walked to the stand and bowed to the High Lord. "Sekka, please recount how you found the passage way." He did just that, saying how he'd heard footsteps and hidden behind the chest then how he'd been thrown away from the door and how when he had leaned against it the door had opened. How he'd noticed that Aria was an Elf and how she had ridden off. "Thank you, are there any questions." Sekka stared, sighing as hands shot up. Lorlen gestured to one of the Higher magicians, Lord Sarrin stood up as he spoke.

"I heard that you have been attacked in your Quarters by an Ichani, could you please describe the attack." Sekka did that, his eyes travelled round the hall, landing on Vanir who was still looking down at the floor but now seemed more shaky. Another stood up.

"Is it true that Vanir, son of Thanil of the House Faren attacked you when your back was turned?" Sekka gulped slightly, this Hearing was meant to be for Thanil, not Vanir.

"Yes, but I attacked first." Vanirs head shot up, he gaped at Sekka.

"That was because Vanir was threatening to burn your friends work, yes?"

"Yes, but-"

"I call upon the Higher Magicians, does this not prove that Vanir is in league with his father and the Ichani?" The Magicians muttered and Sekka was shocked to see that a few were nodding their heads. Feeling his anger escape himself at Vanirs petrified expression, Sekka slammed his hand don on the desk, almost everyone jumped.

"That's not true!" Eyes snapped onto him and he stared right back, his nervousness gone.

"I beg your pardon?"

"If Vanir wanted to kill me then he had plenty of chances in lessons, a slip of power and he could claim it was an accident, no blame attached to him or his family."

"Maybe he would've stuck later in the year, but this-"

"Would've, Could've, Should've. It doesn't matter, he didn't!" There were many nods of agreement and murmurs from the Higher Magicians.

"I now ask," Lorlen began, trying to stop Sekka from carrying on with his rant, "What punishment should we deal to Thanil for his crime?" Someone stood up.

"Execution!" They cried, there were nods and shakes of heads.

"Banishment!" Another cried.

"You would sent him into the clutches of the Ichani?!" The first argued.

"Imprisonment!" This was met with more enthusiasm from the Guild. There were shouts of assent.

"If you vote Execution turn your globes red, Banishment, turn them green, Imprisonment turn them blue." Sekka changed his own globe blue and there were only a few red globes in the air and most were blue. "The Guild has voted for Imprisonment!" Lorlen shouted over the chatter of voices. He pointed at Thanil. "Thanil of the house Faren, I hereby imprison you for the rest of your days!" The Magicians took him away to the dungeons of the Guild and Magicians began to file out. Thorn met Sekka as he made his way to the other Novices', the Magician smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It was a brave thing to do."

"What was?"

"Appealing for Vanir, they would have given him the same punishment as well if you hadn't stepped in, I'm sure he'll be grateful."

"I doubt if he'll be in the mood for being grateful, let alone to me, so long as he leaves me alone, I don't care." Thorn smiled and walked off to talk to Lorlen, Sekka scanned the room and saw Sai still sat where he was before, talking to Suki and Lucas who had walked over. When he reached them, Sekka collapsed in the chair and they laughed slightly.

"I think someone wants to sleep." Suki said, Sekka stared at her upside down, she laughed again. Sai pulled him up.

"Come on, we might as well use this time to study." With that he walked out the hall to the library dragging Sekka behind him.


End file.
